JUNE-JULY 2002
The Five W
Featured Artist's Web Page: http://thestarsideeight.com/
Where:
Brooklyn NY,
USA
Who:
JJ Starside (bass,
vocals, etc), James Eight (guitars, vocals, etc)
When:
January 2001
Why:
NA
What:
Lullaby Rock
In
Short:
Influences:[..] "Our biggest influences
for this project have been bands like Big Star, Wilco, The Velvet Underground,
Tom Petty, Sonic Youth, Gram Parsons, Nick Drake and stuff like that.
Right now we're both really into the new "...And You Will Know Us
By The Trail Of Dead" album. The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin"
album is a recent fave as is Dusty Springfield's classic "Dusty in
Memphis". We both have an undying hunger for new music - the money
just flies out our pockets".
Albums:
Goodnight Noises Everywhere
(released on Electric
Frog Recordings), 2002. CD available for only $8. Check
it out.
|
The Starside Eight by Alessandro De Murtas Featured Songs: Memory Lapse 
Fit of Love
A:Why don't you give me the names of the people in the band and what instruments they play? TSE:Basically it's just the two of us, JJ Starside on bass and vocals and James Eight on guitars and vocals.The rest of the instruments are done by ourselves and our friends. A:Why don't you talk me about the beginning of The Starside Eight' project. Tell me about your early years; When and Why did you start making music? TSE:We had been fiddling around with n-track and were jamming in the basement, and decided to put the two together. A:Does each of you have conservatory training? TSE:No. We're both self taught. A:How long have you all been playing music?? TSE:Our whole lives basically - piano and xylophone and all those types of things when we were kids. We actually played together in a mallet music class on saturday mornings when we were 3 years old. We just recently realized we were in that same class....so that's the real origin of the Starside Eight, hahaha. A:Were you coming from old musical experiences or it's a brand new debut? TSE:We were in local rock bands together around NYC for a few years. A:How did your collaboration come about? TSE:When our last band broke up, we both needed an outlet. We were used to reading each other musically, so it came together pretty nicely. A:Where did you get the name "The Starside Eight"? TSE:We just took our two names (JJ 'Starside' and James 'Eight') and threw 'em together. Besides, it sounds better than Eight Starsides. A:On the band's web site you describe you music style as lullaby rock. What's that? TSE:Lullabye Rock came about from playing late at night in the basement, trying not to disturb the neighbors upstairs. We had to put away our big amps and screams for a while and chill. The songs started to carry a theme and some people said it's good to listen to while going to sleep. Some of them said it's good heroin music, but we like the sleepytime reference better. A:How would you describe the sound on your album? TSE:Well it's not death metal....like we said, kinda laid back stuff, that's why we called it "Goodnight Noises Everywhere". We both have been very influenced by country music recently. We went to ashville and did some 4-track stuff there, and it was really inspiring. But we also kept true to our rock and roll roots. A:What audience do you hope to appeal to? What feeling do you want your audience to have after listening to your album? TSE:We're not looking to segregate a specific audience type, we'd like everyone to like it (however unrealistic that may seem). We imagine alot of indie rock college fans would like it, but there's plenty of experimental sounds and interesting songwriting that would appeal to anyone who digs good music. A:What albums / Which artists inspired you to get into music, and why? What music are you currently listening to? TSE:Our biggest influences for this project have been bands like Big Star, Wilco, The Velvet Underground, Tom Petty, Sonic Youth, Gram Parsons, Nick Drake and stuff like that. Right now we're both really into the new "...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead" album. The Flaming Lips' "Soft Bulletin" album is a recent fave as is Dusty Springfield's classic "Dusty in Memphis". We both have an undying hunger for new music - the money just flies out our pockets. A:What's your favorite track on the disc? Do you have a favorite among your own works?? TSE:"Shining Mia" is probably the best mix we got down out of all of them. It was the last mix, so our skills were at their peak with that one. We had recorded a big batch of songs, so only our real favorites made it on the album. We're playing a new song recently that we hope to capture with n-track soon, called "The Wrong Guy"...that's a new fave. A:Have you had troubles for production of the CD? What are the biggest obstacles as a new artist? TSE:Well, this was our first full project done by ourselves. We're used to going to a studio and just playing while the engineer did all the mixing and sonic work. So we had to learn everything from the ground up. James was doing home recordings on the computer for years, but now that we were getting a little more serious with it, we took alot of time to learn proper mic placements, mixing frequencies and just general songwriting with the recording process in mind. We're still learning, but we must say all the people on the N-Track Discussion group were a tremendous help on tons of issues. A:How do you write your songs? do you write first lyrics or music? Tell me about your creative process... TSE:It goes either way. Each song is it's own animal. Usually we write on our main instruments, jam them out, and work on vocal melodies and words and harmonies. We had instrumentals around for months before we found the right words for them. But sometimes, one of us will have a song pretty much all together, then it's up to filling in the gaps. There's really no set way, and that's a good way to not get into a rut. A:Where did you find inspiration for your songs, is it an easy process or like for me a never ending challenge? TSE:It never ends. Sometimes you can write 5 songs in a week because yr on a roll, and other times yr stuck for what seems like forever. It's good that there's two of us, so we can inspire each other to get it out. A:I like "Fit to love". What was the inspiration behind this song...? TSE:"Fit of Love" is actually the oldest song as far as when it was written. James wrote it years ago about a gurl he broke up with...seemed like there was always some good music on during fights and that explains the comparison of breaking records with a broken heart. The music and harmonies are mostly inspired by Tom Petty and the Beach Boys, two of our favorite artists. A:How did "memory lapse" come about? TSE:JJ wrote the music to memory lapse while on a trip to Binghampton N.Y. After we jammed on it for a while JJ wrote the words about the trip and about the way that it will be remembered down the line. It definitely has that lost love feel to it. We decided to make it the first single because we feel it best represents the sound of the band. A:Tell me everything about your gear! Instruments, Effects, Computer Setup, Software.... everything... ;) TSE:Well, our gear had changed drastically from the beginning of the project to the end. We got better stuff to suit our needs as we got better at using it. We started like most people do: with N-track, and an SB Live! 16bit soundcard, a shure sm57 and an old 4track portastudio for preamp and EQ. Some of the songs on the album were done with just that stuff. But our main rig now consists of: N-track (of course), a Delta 44 24bit soundcard, a Tascam M106 mixer (with 4 buss output), sm57's (3 of 'em), an sm48 (which sounds surprisingly good on acoustic guitars), some Audio Technica MB4000c's (great little condensers that have a really nice response, and they're only about $60 each), a Superlux large diaphragm condenser (these are really nice mics, and again pretty cheap), an AKG D112 (perfect for bass and kick drum),some ART Tube MP's, some neat little reverb boxes we found that people were actually throwing out!, Flavio's EQ and Compressor plugins, a TCNative Reverb plug in, the Endorphin dual band compressor plugin, and a bunch of other plug ins. It was all recorded, mixed and mastered on a P4 1.2 gig with 512RAM running Windows ME. Our main instruments were a Yamaha APX-5CBS acoustic guitar, a Fender Jazz Bass, a Fender '72 Custom Tele, Fender tube and solid state amps, some keyboards, an accordian, bongos, tamborines, shakers, and a drum kit using a carboard box for the kick drum, and a bunch of other guitars and instruments that we dug up and threw in there. A:How do you record your music with n-Track?? Did the recording go smoothly?? Do you have any tips or tricks for the n-Track' community? TSE:We start out recording a basic demo of each song to set the timing and arrangement. Nothing special, just direct guitars in and some vocal mics. We use those demo's to lay down the basic rhythm tracks and go from there till the song is finished. We got real experimental with lots of things, like setting up some amps in the kitchen and feeding them back, capturing it with a condenser hanging from the ceiling. Or for one of the guitar solos we mixed down the basic tracks, reversed them so the whole song was backwards, layed a solo ontop of that and turned everything backwards again, so the song is normal and the solo is all backwards. We would use very little EQ going into n-track from the mics (or DI'd), and concentrate on getting good sounds from the start, then tweaking them with Flavio's Para-EQ. We definitely suggest for anyone to take a good long time to learn the program and experiment with all the capabilities it has to offer. Learn how to get good sounds down, and practice mixing and just do as many demos as possible before jumping into something big. This program has alot to offer, and when you can use it well, yr product will come out that much better. A:Are you going to be touring for your new album? TSE:Yes. We're going to start with mostly east coast stuff - NYC (we're based in Brooklyn), Boston, Philly, stuff like that....then branch out. We'd love to get back to Nashville and do some shows there. A:What can we expect from the summertime shows?? Do you have any surprises for us? TSE:Yeah, we're giving out free money to anyone who attends - SURPRISE! no, we're poor. Our first shows this summer will be stripped down, just the two of us - acoustic guitar and acoustic bass and two vocals. Maybe we'll get electrified for 1 or 2 shows, but right now we're concentrating on presenting our sound with just the two of us. A:What are you composing these days? What's being cooked up for the future?? TSE:We're workin on a rock opera that Pete Townshend has comissioned us to do. we're real excited about that. but seriously, we constanly work on songwriting and experimenting with new sounds and forms and ideas - keep it interesting, keep it new, keep it real." |
What's Being Cooked Up?
| Featured Artist of the Month
- Comments and suggestions are
welcome. Are you an n-Track Studio's User? Would like to be reviewed? Send email to alex@n-track.com, reporting as much info as you can. Also including your recording equipment, procedures, tips & tricks for advantage of all the n-Track Studio's users. |
Work
in Progress